Upsetting the Balance
by Marauding About
Summary: Everyone has their part to play, I didn't play mine well enough.
1. Another Year Begins

**AN: Hope you enjoy reading this fic as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Please review to let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter **

"Anastasia Morgana Artemisia Dearborn! A Lady is never late, you had better be ready to leave," my mother yelled – though I was sure a Lady never yelled either – up the stairs.

My name is a bit of a mouthful, but I'm rather fond of it. Everyone in the wizarding world has of course heard of Morgana, and many think it somewhat presumptuous of my parents to name me after her. Much to my chagrin no one thinks that of the name Artemisia, even though _she_ was the first ever witch to become the Minister for Magic, _and_ she successfully campaigned for Britain to host its first Quidditch World Cup!

No famous witch has ever gone by the name Anastasia – well, no famous witch _yet._ I'm hoping to change that.

I grabbed my trunk and threw on my black woollen robe before sending a last fond glance round my room. I wouldn't be here again until Christmas, and although Hogwarts was rather brilliant, I'd still miss my home.

I descended the stairs into the foyer to find my parents awaiting me, looking regal as ever in their smart robes.

"Got everything, dear?" my father asked with an endearing smile, pulling out his wand to levitate my trunk for me.

"Of course, dad. This is my sixth year of packing after all!" I joked lamely, heading towards the front door.

"We're going via the Potters' actually, Ana darling," my mother said, gesturing me towards our fireplace.

I suppressed the urge to sigh. Dorea and Charlus Potter are my godparents, and I truly loved them. They have a son my age, and I'm relatively certain everyone anticipates us to fall in love and get married and then Dorea and Charlus will truly be able to call me daughter, and my parents will get the son of their dreams.

However, James Charlus Potter is an unruly, narrow-minded miscreant.

Okay, that's maybe a little unfair of me – but only a little. You see, we were always best friends; we grew up together after all. To some extent I think we also expected we'd end up together when we were kids.

Things changed when we went to Hogwarts though.

It's interesting how the house system works really.

You see, for some reason, Hufflepuff is often portrayed as the weak house, or the boring house, or the house for leftovers even. I disagree. Helga's house selects the patient, hardworking and loyal individual – all admirable traits.

Ravenclaw is for the naturally intelligent, but that really means very little in my opinion. The identity speaks nothing of attitude to work or friends. I almost feel bad for Ravenclaws, they're always simply expected to be academically brilliant, they hardly ever get due recognition for good grades. If a Ravenclaw gets an O, well, they get an O, so they should. However, ever seen a Gryffindor get an O? I can guarantee you don't tend to miss the accompanying spectacle: showering of praise and points, cheers around the class… Honestly, it's almost embarrassing.

Actually, Gryffindor as a whole is pretty embarrassing. The only trait they're selected for is _bravery_. As nice as that is… well, bravery can only get you so far in life. Actually, maybe not so far. Brashness and boldness don't seem to amount to longevity.

Finally, there's Slytherin.

People say that there hasn't been a dark witch or wizard who wasn't in Slytherin. Now, I've done some research, and that's true. However, not all Slytherins are advocates of the Dark Arts! Take Dorea Potter for instance, she was as proud a Slytherin as you'll ever find. But people still insist it's an evil house – people can be an ignorant bunch.

Slytherin's are ambitious. They're cunning and perceptive and strive for greatness; plenty of the witches and wizards that grace chocolate frog cards were Slytherin.

You're probably wondering why this is so important to me.

The Potter's are a traditional Gryffindor family, all for chivalry and bravery, with a tendency for flair in _everything_ they do. James was an easy sort for Gryffindor's old hat – I'm still not convinced it even touched his head.

The Dearborn's, on the other hand, have always been more reserved than the Potter's. Our ancestry is just as distinguished as the Potter's, rivalling even the Malfoy's for wealth, but we're still less set in our ways. There's no particular correlation between Dearborn's and Hogwarts House, just loyalty to the family. Always unfailingly loyal to the family. I suppose if anything, Dearborn's as a rule would be best suited to the patient and loyal house of Hufflepuff.

You might have guessed it already, but I'm a Slytherin. And for this, James resents me.

Now, as I've mentioned, James' own mother was also a Slytherin. I think he feels bad for her, but then again, she was born a Black. It wasn't as if she had any choice in the matter. I suppose in James' eyes she redeemed herself by marrying the honourable Charlus Potter. But most of the time he just conveniently forgets his mother was also a Slytherin.

Either way, over the past five years at Hogwarts, our relationship has changed a lot. We used to be the best of friends, and for our first and second years, we mostly remained so. We didn't see much of each other at school apart from the odd shared lesson, but then over summer and Christmas it was as if nothing had ever changed between us. Those are fond memories for me.

In our third year, James started to become aware that girls were, well, _girls._ He grew more awkward around me, and started fawning over Lily Evans, one of his housemates. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Evans was best friends – kind of like how James and I were at one point I suppose – with Severus Snape, one of _my_ housemates. Those two were _inseparable_. James resented him, they'd never got on, Snape was quite frankly a little odd. His jealousy and resentment of Snape escalated, and soon he and his Gryffindor pals had started a feud with Slytherin house.

Honestly, all this over a girl.

And that girl wasn't even me, his once best friend.

Basically, I like to attribute centuries of rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin to Lily Evans. Petty, I know. Also entirely senseless… but Merlin, is she annoying!

All in all, James has had no time for me since third year, and that hurts. So much for his Gryffindor chivalry and bravery, he wasn't even man enough to remain my friend.

No longer suppressing the urge to sigh, I grabbed a handful of floo powder, stepped into the luminous green flames and called out, "Potter Manor!"

Strangely enough, Dorea wasn't there to greet us as usual. I glanced around their foyer, curiously. My parents followed me through the floo and, seemingly unsurprised by Dorea's absence, strolled through the hallway to one of the reception rooms, with me begrudgingly traipsing behind them.

Dorea rushed into the room we'd seated ourselves in, looking slightly flustered.

"Morpheus! Jeanna!" she greeted my parents with a warm embrace and kiss on the cheek.

She turned to me and fondly patted my cheek, "Anastasia, darling, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"

I sprang to my feet to embrace her tightly, "Oh, pish posh!"

"The boys have had me going potty this morning, but they should be ready to depart momentarily," she informed my parents.

As if on cue, a huge clunking followed by a crash echoed through the house, followed by three distinct guffaws. My mother and Dorea pursed their lips whilst my father smiled knowingly.

With a bang, the door swung open and in stepped three black haired men.

My mother floated towards the man at the rear, "Charlus, you're no longer one of the boys you know," she chuckled softly in greeting.

Charlus Potter beamed around the room, "Ah, my dear Jeanna, I may no longer be one of the boys, but Merlin am I overwhelmed by the beautiful women gathered in my home!"

With this he turned to me with an exaggerated bow, clasping my hand and gently lifting it to his lips.

I couldn't help but giggle at his theatrics – so maybe that Gryffindor chivalry could be quite charming.

"Boys!" Dorea spoke sharply across my giggles.

I looked across the room to where James Potter and Sirius Black were awkwardly shuffling in the doorway, dressed in muggle clothes. I'd forgotten that Black spent most of his holidays with the Potters. Dorea often refrained from mentioning her son to me, knowing how it still upset me at times.

James stepped forwards with a sheepish smile on his face, adjusting his glasses – a guilty tell of his – to greet my parents.

"Mr Dearborn, sir," he greeted my father, shaking his hand with mock formality.

Then, similarly to how Charlus had greeted me, he turned to my mother and kissed her hand, "Jeanna, my father was right about the beauty in this room!"

To my disgust, she laughed! "Oh James, charming as ever, you really mustn't be a stranger, you know."

To my satisfaction James had the decency to look slightly guilty at that, clearing his throat awkwardly, and glancing at me.

Fortunately my father chose this time to greet Black, "Sirius, isn't it? Pleasure to meet you again my boy."

Like James, Black also grasped my father's hand, however it was a more sincere gesture than James' and my father's routine.

"The pleasure is mine, Sir," Black said respectfully.

To my chagrin, Black _also_ got my mother to giggle like a school girl.

The adults, choosing not to comment on my lack of interaction with my peers, thank Merlin, quickly saw to us leaving.

The drive to King's Cross was awkward to say the least. Charlus had a new car, which we could all comfortably fit in – the joys of magic. However, I was sat with James and Black in the back, with the adults at the front, extoling the virtues of magically adjusted muggle vehicles.

Finally, we found ourselves on Platform nine and three quarters, where the Hogwarts Express was gleaming in the station. After many hugs and promises to write, and tears from Dorea and my mother, and warnings from my father, I found myself boarding the train with James and Black in tow.

We'd been a little on the late side in the end after James had accidentally let out his owl, Urog – stupid name for an owl, I know – when we were still in muggle London. That boy is incapable of even the most basic functions. As such most students had already boarded the train and the carriages were rather crowded.

"Right –"

"So –"

James and I had spoke at the same time; he smiled awkwardly at me.

"Prefect duties," I said by way of excusing myself, and quickly set off to the front of the train without another word of goodbye to the troublesome pair. Black might have muttered something, but I couldn't be sure.

I slipped into the prefect's carriage, an apologetic smile gracing my face.

"Sorry I'm a little late," I started to say, looking around for the Head Boy and Girl badges. Frank Longbottom of Gryffindor and Eugenia Greengrass of Slytherin… interesting.

Frank Longbottom, a pretty reasonable chap, just glanced up at me with a shrug before turning back to the seventh year Gryffindor Prefect, Alice Prewett, who was blushing prettily. No doubt she was falling for that Gryffindor daring.

Eugenia stepped forwards and embraced me, "Oh Anastasia it's so good to see you! I've not seen you since the charity ball hosted by the Nott's, and that was at the beginning of August! I didn't even know I was Head Girl then! Merlin, Head Girl!"

Eugenia and I had been friends since my first year at Hogwarts, she was in the year above me, and I suppose she had always looked out for me, especially following the rift between me and James in third year.

"Congratulations, you deserve it!" I exclaimed happily, pretending not to see the sour look shot our way by both Alice Prewett and Marjorie Wheeler of Hufflepuff. I didn't blame them, it must be tough not getting what you feel you've earned.

Frank called us all to attention and I sat down in the last remaining seat, which was fortunately between the two Slytherin fifth year Prefects, Regulus Black and Tallulah Macmillan. I whispered a congratulations to Regulus who smiled fondly back at me, his grey eyes shining with amusement. He'd always thought I put too much stock in school achievements, which was rich, considering how seriously he took winning the Quidditch cup, but we all have our flaws.

I listened to Longbottom and Eugenia with half an ear, more interested in looking around at my fellow Prefects. Unlike last year, Lily Evans was not sitting next to Snape – unsurprising considering the events following our DADA OWL last year. The two of them were sitting as far away from each other as possible, determinedly not looking at one another.

Remus Lupin, Lily's Gryffindor partner and one of James' best friends, was sat looking particularly tired, and not remotely interested in the Prefect's meeting, which was rather unusual for him.

"So, for the first week of patrols, your partner will be in the same house as you, but a different year, that seems the best way to help out the fifth years,' Eugenia said, and I gave her my attention, 'so we'll start right away. If the sixth years could partner with the fifth years to do the first patrol of the train, and then the seventh years you can stick with your usual partner and do the last hour please, remember to direct first years to Hagrid! That'll be all then, is that right, Frank?"

Frank nodded and turned to us all with a smile, "any problems, let us know, we'll stay in this carriage."

The Hufflepuff Prefects were the first to depart, followed by the Gryffindors ("being a Prefect is such a huge responsibility, it's important that you pay attention to what I say and do! I don't want it to get back to Frank that I've neglected to properly instruct you," Lily started to rant to those poor fifth years).

Snape walked over to where I was sat with Regulus and Tallulah. Tallulah was an irritating girl, and Regulus was a good friend of mine, but I know that Regulus was also one of Snape's only friends, and Snape would probably hex Tallulah if he had to listen to her ramblings for an entire hour. With a resigned frown I nodded at him, ruffled Regulus' hair, much to his disgust, and gestured to the corridor to Tallulah, who smiled shyly.

"So, Tallulah, congratulations, your parents must be happy," I smiled politely at the girl as we ambled down the corridor of the train.

"You can call me Tilly you know."

"Ah, that's great."

"Thanks by the way."

I quirked an eyebrow at her, imploring her to elaborate.

"I know you would have liked to patrol with Regulus, I mean, who wouldn't want to spend a whole hour with him!" She blushed and looked at me sideways, as I nodded in empathy.

"He is certainly an attractive boy, but Regulus and I are just friends, Tilly," I stated.

She seemed to consider that and I watched a small smile form on her face, before she frowned again, "I know that you're just friends, but I'm not convinced he considers you as _just_ a friend… By Salazar you pair would be a rather handsome couple, wouldn't you?"

I laughed at that, shaking my head.

She sighed in frustration, "he'd never look at me, not when he's actually _friends_ with people like you. Did you know, we've never actually had a conversation unrelated to schoolwork? I suppose he's a bit cold at times… though he always seems happy enough to talk to you… although, how silly of me! I mean, oh sorry… no offense, I suppose… but you and he both lost your best friend to Gryffindor didn't you, I always forget that, makes sense you two would have something to bond over."

Her rambling continued, and I'm really not sure what her point was. Soon she was talking about Emmeline Vance's aunt who'd just been promoted in the Department of International Cooperation and how she overheard Emmeline talking to Sirius Black earlier and that she's clearly got an awfully high opinion of herself overnight.

Just as I was seriously regretting letting Snape patrol with Regulus, I heard a seriously piercing shriek which at least put an end to Tallulah's ramblings.

I turned around only to spot James Potter standing in front of Lily Evans, with a rather insufferable smirk on his face. Black was in fits of laughter, and Lupin was stood awkwardly looking like he wished the floor swallow him whole. I noticed Peter Pettigrew last, who looked like he was catching Lupin up on what had transpired. Those four boys were always up to something, they'd even named themselves the Marauders, I mean, seriously? How conceited.

I made to just move on, but Tallulah frowned, "shouldn't we interfere?"

I sighed, "those Gryffindors are always at it, two of them are Prefects, in theory they should be able to sort it out themselves."

Unfortunately that was when Black noticed me, "not brave enough to step in, Dearborn?" he goaded.

I scowled at him, flicking my long dark hair over my shoulder, "Lupin, Evans, I'd have expected the pair of you to set a better example to the fifth years. You wouldn't want this to get back to Longbottom after all…"

Blimey, Lily actually _winced_ at my words! She took a deep breath and stared at me levelly, before sighing and slipping past the Marauders.

Lupin, on the other hand, looked defeated and guilty. He didn't meet my eye as I resolutely tried not to look at James or Black. I could feel the heat of James' glare.

"There was no need to be so rude, Ana," he said in a low tone. I flicked my gaze to his, and was hurt to see the anger in his eyes. I fought to keep my composure, painfully aware of Tallulah watching the entire encounter with avid interest.

"My apologies, I suggest you go back to your compartment now," I looked them up and down, noting they were still in their muggle clothing, "and I'd recommend changing into your robes."

Black rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to retort, but Lupin cut across him, "I'll just finish up my rounds then join you guys in a bit, won't be long."

With that, Black let out a frustrated huff and marched off, Pettigrew in tow. James' glare softened on me, and I almost thought he would apologise. Instead he gave a half shrug, before loping after the others, leaving me with Lupin and Tallulah.

I gave him a small smile in thanks, and he returned it. "Look, I know things are…" he trailed off, glancing at Tallulah, before shaking his head.

"Nevermind," and with that he joined the Marauders, I noted how he didn't complete his rounds after all, but shrugged it off.

"I take it you and Potter are no longer betrothed?"

Tallulah's question baffled me.

"We were never betrothed, Macmillan."

I walked back the way we had come, not caring if she was following.

I had a feeling that this would be a long year.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. How Not to Make Friends

**AN: Hope you enjoy reading this fic as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Please review to let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter **

I woke up feeling thoroughly well-rested and sighed in contentment, snuggling deeper into the emerald green bed sheets.

"Ana, are you awake?" one of my roommates, Helene Abbott, whispered.

I sat up and pulled back the hangings of my bed, revealing Helene. She was already up and dressed, nervously fiddling with her long blonde ponytail.

I smiled at her and stretched, "what time is it?" I asked.

"7.15, I couldn't stay in bed, the first day always sets me so on edge!" she said with a soft self-deprecating chuckle.

I laughed a long with her a little, "well, I'll have a shower and then we can go for an early breakfast."

By the time I was showered and dressed, our other two roommates, Mina Flint and Persephone Runcorn, were getting ready. Taking pity on Helene, I told them to meet us up at breakfast, to which they both rolled their eyes knowingly.

It wasn't quite 8am yet, but as I ascended the staircases leading from the dormitories up into the common room, I saw a couple of younger students meeting up to go to breakfast too.

We made our way up to the Great Hall in companionable silence, Helene was mostly rather sensible, and since we hadn't had a chance to catch up properly the previous evening, she'd correctly anticipated that I'd prefer to wait for all of our dorm mates to make it to breakfast before revealing our gossip.

As we sat down at the Slytherin table, I glanced up at the high table, laughing quickly at the expression on Professor Kettleburn's face as Professor Slughorn, my head of house, boisterously told him a story.

There weren't many students in the Hall yet, and I started tucking into some melon. I entertained myself idly wondering what Professor Dumbledore might have been discussing with Filch, and watching the Hufflepuff first years pile obscene amounts of food on their plates, seemingly worried that the supply would run out.

Eventually, Persephone and Mina joined us, and by this time most of the students had arrived at breakfast, the buzz of conversation pleasantly increasing anticipation of the day.

"Evan Rosier suits his haircut," Mina observed, "he looks so much more grown up like that."

I tilted my head in consideration, he really _did_ look much better this year, and I told the girls so. Typically, he caught me staring and shot me a smirk, to which I responded with an awkward jig of the head, much to Persephone's amusement.

"Sturgis Podmore is staring at you, Mina," Helene leant forward to whisper.

Mina and I immediately whipped our heads round to look at the Hufflepuff table, where Sturgis Podmore was indeed staring.

"Ugh," I exclaimed, "Podmore gets around as much as Black, Mina, I do hope you wouldn't be tempted!"

She laughed heartily, dark hooded eyes twinkling, "I don't think that will be a problem, Ana, but thanks for your concern."

I saw Slughorn making his way up our table, handing out timetables, and sat up straighter.

Persephone groaned, "I really do not want to be doing NEWTs! The OWLs were bad enough; my skin has only just recovered from that stress-induced acne!"

"Relax, Sephi, we won't have to take the exams for another two years!"

"Oh Helene, don't be so naïve, the exams are on two years' worth of content, not to mention all the coursework! Nope, this is it for freedom," Mina dramatically bowed her head.

I couldn't help but laugh, "Now now, Mina, we're all going to be fine! Sephi, we're taking less subjects this year, so there'll be less stress. But Helene, although it's true our exams aren't until next year, you'd still benefit from staying on top of your workload now."

"O ho! Miss Dearborn, truer words were never spoken."

Professor Slughorn had reached us, "attitudes like that are all in the making of Head Girl, you know?" he winked conspirationally, patting his belly.

"Now, I was pleased enough with your results over the summer, girls, but do please try and commit yourselves this year!"

We all glanced at each other; Helene blushed profusely, whereas Mina just scoffed.

"Timetables, timetables…" Slughorn muttered, shuffling through the stack in his hand.

"Aha! Miss Runcorn, there you are. I'm surprised Flitwick is allowing you to continue on with Charms actually, I wouldn't have an Acceptable student in my class, not at all! But never mind that… Miss Flint, here you go, I expect you to keep me informed on your brother's progress in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures…"

Mina nodded along whilst perusing her timetable, comparing it to Persephone's, as Slughorn passed Helene hers with no comment.

"Might I just say, Miss Dearborn, it certainly is a relief that _one_ of you girls," at this he stared meaningfully at my dorm mates, "achieved the required Exceeds Expectations to continue the noble study of Potions! It shall be my delight to have you in the NEWT lesson!"

"As it shall be my delight to _be_ in your NEWT lesson, sir!" Professor Slughorn had always been easy to endear myself to.

"Well, you have double Potions with me after breakfast! You're in for a treat today, a real treat indeed!" Somehow I doubted that, in all honesty I did _not_ consider Potions a delight.

At this he continued his way down the table, and I turned to the girls.

"I can't believe you're continuing with potions, Ana, you resent the subject!" Helene exclaimed.

I shrugged, "I may hate the subject, but I imagine it'll be fortuitous to remain one of Slughorn's favourite students."

"Honestly, Ana, I know Slytherin's are renowned for their ambition, but sometimes I can't help but wonder if maybe you're a little _too_ ambitious. You don't need a NEWT in Potions!"

Mina wasn't overly interested in her academic achievements, which I suppose I understood. It was unlikely she'd ever work, her parents just wanted her to marry well – meaning of course to marry a pure-blood – and I think that that's all she wanted as well. She did, of course, want to make sure she'd be the wife to someone of influence.

"What other subjects are you taking, Ana?" Persephone asked, given that she'd already read Mina and Helene's timetables.

"Charms, Transfiguration, Defence, and Astronomy, what about you?"

"Charms, Defence, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Divination," Persephone read off her timetable.

"Mina?"

"Divination, Astronomy, Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology," Mina replied.

Helene beamed, "at least we all have Charms and Transfiguration together! I'm taking Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures too, I'm hoping Kettleburn will be able to find Unicorns this year, he couldn't get any for our OWLs…" she drifted off in speculation.

"Well," I said with false cheer, "I best head off for Potions, all alone! Enjoy your free period, girls." They all murmured their condolences with laughter, refilling their glasses with pumpkin juice as I departed for the dungeons.

I reluctantly entered Slughorn's classroom wondering who in Merlin's name I was going to sit with. I'd sat with Mina for the last five years for Potions! I was also a little late as I'd gone to my dormitory to ditch the books I wouldn't need today after all.

I must have been the last to arrive, and I cursed myself for not getting here early to choose a seat at my own leisure. Glancing around, I surveyed my options.

Lily was sat at the front with Marlene Mckinnon, another Gryffindor, which was a first. She always used to sit with Snape. Emmeline Vance and Benjy Fenwick of Ravenclaw were sat with each other, as were Tonius Hopkirk, Gordon Bletchley, Florence Hyperley and Isodora Stepham of Hufflepuff. Rosier and Avery smiled at me in greeting before turning back to a magazine, and then I noticed Snape.

He was the only one sat at a desk by himself, and although it was entirely unnecessary to have a partner in Potions, it'd be painfully obvious if I chose _not_ to sit next to my housemate. Plus, I felt kind of bad that his only true friend had entirely deserted him… even if she felt it was justified.

"Good morning, Snape," I said, forcing politeness as I deftly slipped onto the stool next to his.

His black eyes stared into my brown ones, betraying no emotion. I held his stare until he nodded slightly, which I took to mean he was grateful, though it might have meant anything.

I busied myself getting out my copy of _Advanced Potion Making _and some parchment, neatly arranging my quill and ink pot, as Slughorn bustled into the room, checking on a potion he had brewing at the front.

"Righto, righto!" Slughorn started, before frowning around at the class, "oh, I was expecting-"

"Sluggy! Good of you to wait for us, my dear man!"

Of course, in came the Marauders, dramatic as always. I rolled my eyes and saw Snape glower next to me.

Slughorn let out a hearty chuckle, "to your seats please boys, quietly now, quietly…"

The four Gryffindors selected the desks in the middle of the classroom, accompanied by the loud screeching of stools dragging on the flagstone floor.

"Excellent, now then. NEWTs! Firstly, congratulations on your OWL results, and many thanks for continuing on with this noble art! The next two years will push your potion-making skills and understanding of the theory and alchemical processes further than ever before. Your other teachers will no doubt give you further instruction, however from now on in your studies it would be advised for you to always attempt any spells non-verbally. As the extent of your wandwork in potions is just adjusting the flames of your cauldrons, this should prove a simple task!

Now, as for today, I figured we'd jump straight in with a fun Potion, just to shake out the dust from those brains of yours!"

Slughorn beamed and with a dramatic flourish removed the lid from his cauldron at the front to reveal a bright yellow potion happily simmering away.

"Any guesses what this might be?"

Lily Evans' hand shot up, and as Slughorn had already been watching her with an expectant smile, she answered his question immediately.

"The bright sunshine-yellow colour and dancing rising steam is indicative of the Elixir to Induce Euphoria, sir."

"Right you are my dear girl, right you are! Now if you could all please turn to page 86 of your copy of _Advanced Potion Making_ and just make a start, then in our next lesson we'll evaluate each other's potions, before analysing some of the techniques which you'll find transfer rather well to many of the other NEWT level potions. Rest assured, you will get another attempt at brewing this Elixir later in the year!"

Snape rose from his stool at the same time as me and we glanced at each other quickly, "I don't mind grabbing your ingredients too," he mumbled, leaving for the ingredients store cupboard before I could even respond.

I shrugged to myself, sitting back down and reading the potions' instructions. There weren't too many steps to it, but they were very precise, and I read them through twice before Snape returned.

He nudged my ingredients across the desk without looking at me properly and I picked up the porcupine quills, all of them were of equal length. Knowing Snape's ardour for potions, I sincerely doubted it was a coincidence, and smiled gratefully at him, to which he just shrugged in response.

I couldn't help but wonder about Snape, if maybe he _wasn't_ incapable of making friends.

The chatter and laughter soon died down as the entire class focused on their potion, and soon there was a thin haze filling the classroom. I noticed Slughorn had spent most of the lesson talking to Lily Evans, presumably singing her praises. Referring to the textbook, I noticed hers looked almost perfect… Mine was not.

Sighing in frustration, I threw in the wormwood and starting stirring absently.

Snape quickly lunged forward to grab my wrist.

"Salazar's sake, Dearborn! You're supposed to let it simmer for 11 minutes and _then _ stir it six times _anti_-clockwise! Honestly, how you got an E confounds me, you bumble around that cauldron like a pygmy puff on Ogden's!"

I sat back in shock, surrendering my potion to whatever fate my premature stirring had set in motion.

I let out a frustrated sigh and considered the boy beside me, "why do you even care about the quality of my potion?"

"Well in case you hadn't noticed, we're in rather close proximity. I'd rather it didn't blow up."

"Oh…" Okay, that was reasonable, and embarrassing. I heard Rosier laugh in front of me, and looked away from Snape to see him watching us.

"Don't be embarrassed Ana, it's not like you even need these NEWTs," he quipped, sending me what I presumed he thought to be a charming smile, before turning back to his potion, Avery nudging him.

I noticed Snape stiffen at his words, and to my dismay he didn't say anything else to me for the rest of the lesson, not even an 'I told you so' when Slughorn correctly identified where I'd gone wrong in my potion for it to end up black instead of yellow.

When Slughorn dismissed the class, after a reminder to reflect on our work today, I very slowly packed my stuff up to avoid encountering Snape on the way out. This had the added bonus of also avoiding the Marauders, as they'd bolted immediately.

I started to make my way up to charms when I heard hushed voices around the corner. I slowed down, my curiosity piqued.

"Lily please, this summer was torture! You know I didn't mean what I said-"

"And yet you still said it Sev, why can't you just be brave enough to choose your own friends? Mulciber, Avery, Rosier… they're _toxic_ Sev! I know you know that, even better than I do."

"Please-"

"No, Sev. I'm done, please stop following me around, it's for the best."

I heard Snape growl, "bravery, that's the issue isn't it?! It's Potter, Lily, he's trying to manipulate you with- with- his whole, ugh, _Gryffindor_-ishness!"

I winced, that _would_ not go down well. Lily's voice was cold when she responded.

"_I'm_ a Gryffindor, Sev. And _Potter_," she spat his name, "had _nothing_ to do with me!"

I heard her storm off, and bracing myself for an encounter I was already trying to avoid, I stepped round the corner to reveal myself to Snape.

His face was twisted in anguish, and I felt a pang of sympathy for the boy. He glared up at me, and I erased the show of pity from my face.

"Ironic, don't you think?" I started, feeling slight amusement at the flicker of confusion that crossed his features.

"You pretended to hate the one person I think you actually like in this school, just because she's a mu-"

"Don't say that word, Dearborn," Snape's fierce growl amused me.

"_Muggle-born_," I continued, "you of all people should know that not everyone in Slytherin uses that word, Snape," I reprimanded.

"But the really interesting thing is that actually, I think a part of you hates _me_, because I'm a pure-blood. You also hate Mulciber, and Avery, and Rosier too I reckon… hmmm and Potter, and of course the Blacks… I understand it must be hard for you, being in Slytherin."

He visibly balked at my words, but I powered through what I wanted to say, "Lily won't forgive you, Snape. But it's not too late to make other friends… I know you detest that, as Rosier pointed out today, it doesn't matter how I do in school, but you don't have to detest _me_. I guess, what I'm trying to say is, you don't have to pick a side to have friends. I'm not stupid, I know what most of the boys in our House are getting themselves into, but they're not actually getting _themselves_ into it. It's their _families!_ You've dodged a bullet, you don't have to commit like them, Snape."

The look of pure loathing he gave me sent a shiver down my spine, "that's the precise reason I _do_ need to commit. I don't have a family to fall back on; I have to make my own way. I'm a Slytherin too you know, I have ambitions and desires equal to yours. I'm a powerful wizard, Dearborn."

He let out a frustrated growl and I stepped back, "I know you are. I know…" I trailed off weakly.

"Don't try and protect me, you'll only make it worse for me." He stalked off down the corridor, leaving me to my morose thoughts.

I needed to play this year carefully.

* * *

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	3. Tensions Rise

**AN: Hope you enjoy reading this fic as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Please review to let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means a lot!  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter **

* * *

The first week passed largely without further incident. Neither Snape nor I brought up our conversation when we sat together at potions, though he did continue to give me small tips and correct me when I went wrong, which I thought was pretty decent of him. But outside of Slughorn's classroom I began to suspect he was trying to avoid me.

It was Sunday afternoon and I was sat in the library working on my Transfiguration essay with Mina, Helene and Persephone. Professor McGonagall didn't appear to believe in easing us back into the routine of schoolwork; we had three feet of parchment on the theory of conjuring spells due in for Tuesday's lesson.

"So, where exactly do conjured items come from?" Persephone asked, frowning at her textbook.

I opened my mouth to answer, but then realised I had no idea and looked hopefully between Mina and Helene. Unfortunately they also looked baffled.

"I've never actually considered that, you know…" I started weakly.

"The abyss?" Helene suggested.

"Perhaps you can only conjure an item if it has been previously banished?" Mina pondered.

We all considered this, "that adds a load of other questions," I mused.

Persephone sighed and scratched something out of her essay, "I think I'll just ignore that question then."

"Good plan!" Helene agreed, which set us all off into giggles.

"Um, excuse me?" a voice interrupted our laughter.

We all looked up to see Lily Evans hovering awkwardly over our table, a pile of books tucked under one arm. Her spare hand was twirling her hair nervously.

I assumed she was probably looking for me to discuss prefect duties or something, so I quirked a brow in question, trying not to make her feel welcome. Mina and Persephone had purposefully kept their heads down once they had realised who was interrupting us.

"Sorry to intrude… We're supposed to be patrolling together tonight, Anastasia. I was wondering where you would like to meet."

I bit back a scowl, Frank and Eugenia thought that making us patrol with prefects in other houses would be a good way to promote inter-house unity. I agreed, but that didn't mean I relished the idea of patrolling with Lily _Evans_.

"Entrance Hall at eight should be fine," I said shortly, hoping she'd leave us be.

"Okay," she agreed brightly, "I'll see you tonight then."

I nodded, pointedly looking down at my essay.

"Oh- and, um… there's a chapter in here that explains where conjured items come from," she quickly stammered out, dropping one of her books on the table.

I gritted my teeth, and was saved the necessity of responding by Helene who jumped in, recognising my anger, "thanks, that's nice of you."

To my chagrin Lily hesitated a moment longer and I thought she was going to wait for me to acknowledge her, before she turned and walked away.

"Ughhhhh!" I groaned, "why does she have to be _so_ insufferable?!"

Mina shrugged at me, "most people find it endearing."

"To hell with most people," I muttered, earning a short chuckle of agreement from Persephone.

The four of us all turned our attention to the book Evans had so _kindly_ left us. I knew I was being petty and spiteful, but I really didn't want to accept her help.

Helene scoffed in frustration, "Salazar's sake, Ana. We're all going to read it, and then the absence of including that point will be rather noticeable in your essay. McGonagall isn't going to know that Evans gave you the information, she's just going to know that you have it in your essay!"

I smiled weakly at Helene, "aha, I suppose you're right… Want me to read out the chapter?"

She shrugged in agreement, and we all picked up our quills as I began to read from the textbook.

* * *

After dinner I decided just to relax in the common room. Unfortunately, that was easier said and done. I was impatient to just get on with my prefect rounds. Spending two hours alone with Lily Evans just didn't appeal.

Mina and Helene were playing Wizard's chess, though they both took forever to make a move, so they mostly just sat in silence, staring at the board, whilst Persephone threw out suggestions every so often when she looked up from her copy of Witch Weekly.

I was reading through a report in the Daily Prophet on the reforms being made in East European Ministries for Magic. It had taken Europe a long time to recover fully from Grindelwald's influence, and it seemed that things were only just shaping up over there as they were in Britain, and had been for decades.

"Hey, Ana," I looked up to see Regulus and Barty Crouch approaching me, and I smiled fondly at the two fifth years.

"Hi boys, how's your first week been?"

"Miserable," Barty replied, as they thre themselves down on the sofa across from me. I raised a brow and Regulus laughed, "All we've heard is 'OWLs this' and 'OWLs that'," he explained.

"Ahhh," I nodded sympathetically, "well, they do come around sooner than you think they will, but don't let them stress you out too much."

Barty barked with laughter, "it'd be easy not to think about them if the Professors weren't like a bunch of banshees. I dread to think how they'll act after Christmas!"

A tinkle of laughter escaped me and I leant over to pat Barty's hand. He blushed bright red and I tried to pretend not to notice, turning my attention to Regulus, whose eyes twinkled with amusement at Barty's reaction to me.

"You know, Ana," Regulus began in a mischievous tone, "Barty's very own father has been advising on some of those reforms." He nodded towards the paper and nudged Barty, who started in surprise.

"You're interested in that?" he asked incredulously.

I nodded in earnest, "oh yes, I find international policy fascinating."

He eyed me suspiciously for a moment before sending a questioning look towards Regulus who just laughed at him, shaking his head.

"Well, if you're really interested?" Barty ventured nervously, to which I nodded again, "well, I could introduce you to my father properly over Christmas. He'd love to have a pretty girl interested in his work." He then blushed even deeper as he realised he'd called me a pretty girl, and I giggled slightly.

"That'd be fantastic if you could, Barty," I smiled charmingly at him, and saw Regulus roll his eyes in my periphery. Barty seemed rather pleased with me reaction though, and we settled into a comfortable conversation, chatting aimlessly.

Avery, Mulciber and Rosier soon joined us, and Mina and Helene stopped their chess game, choosing instead to join our conversation.

Persephone glanced up from her magazine, "Ana, it's almost eight," she reminded me.

"Oh Merlin, wish me luck," I joked as I stood up.

"What for?" Rosier asked me.

"Prefect duties with Lily Evans," I replied as I redid my tie and adjusted my robes.

"Don't come back smelling of Mudblood," Mulciber joked, earning laughs from all of the boys, and smiles from the girls.

Truthfully, I didn't have anything against muggle-borns. I might not have liked Evans, but I didn't find slurs against her blood status amusing like my other house mates. I felt Rosier watching me carefully and I smiled tightly, not wanting to stand out from the other girls.

"I'll walk you up," Rosier offered with a charming smile, rising from his chair, providing me no opportunity to object. He ignored Barty's scowl, but what interested me was Regulus' tightened expression.

I shrugged it off and smiled back at Rosier, "thanks, I'll just go and drop my bag in the dormitory."

I bumped into Tallulah in the corridor who gasped an apology, before jumping straight into a tirade of questions about my week and well-being.

I cut her off quickly, "sorry Tilly, got to dash, prefect duties!" I called out as I continued past her back up to the common room.

* * *

Rosier was standing at the top of the stairs waiting for me, and as I climbed the last step he offered me his arm. I accepted it gracefully, allowing him to guide me out of the common under the watchful eye of our house mates.

"Mulciber doesn't amuse you," he stated. I kept my expression neutral and tilted my head in question at him. This was not a conversation I wanted to have.

"Ana, I know you're not dim. I mean, don't mistake me – you don't know a doxy egg from a porcupine quill-"

I scoffed in indignation, but he carried on anyway.

"But you know how to read people, how to manipulate them. And that's worth more than brewing potions or charming windows," he stared meaningfully at me, and I felt a sense of foreboding.

"You're valuable Ana, you know that. You're pretty, smart, funny… wealthy. But I worry about you… I think you're great," I swear he was starting to blush, and I was so confused where he was going with this, "but that means nothing if people start questioning your loyalties, do you understand?"

"Evan," I spoke his name softly, and watched his eyes widen slightly. Ah… so he really did like me? But he was worried about what people thought of me? No. Not people, I realised, our fellow Slytherins.

I'd told Snape at the start of the week that I knew what was going on. That wasn't strictly true, but it also wasn't a complete fabrication. I knew more and more pureblood families were pledging themselves either for or against a rising figure, Lord Voldemort.

The Dearborns were one of the last families attempting to stay neutral, but I knew my parents only had a finite amount of time before having to take a stand.

I considered the young man in front of me. He was handsome, not usually overly confident, but he was smart, and could be genuinely nice. He was the only child of an only child of a long line of pureblood wizards. I had no doubt his family had pledged themselves in favour of Lord Voldemort's blood supremacist policies.

I didn't know what my best approach here was, but I couldn't lose his trust.

"My loyalties are to my family and House, Evan," I forced a smile and squeezed his arm.

He considered this, and then coughed slightly. I think he was a little embarrassed. _So he should be,_ I couldn't help but thinking, still offended he'd had the audacity to question me so boldly.

We reached the stairs up to the Entrance Hall.

"Well, have fun patrolling, Ana," he said in a gruff voice, and I couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"Thanks, Evan."

He let go of my arm, but didn't start walking back towards the common room. I held his stare, and he shifted awkwardly.

"I need to meet Evans," I reminded him, nodding towards the staircase.

"Right, bye then," and he hurried off.

* * *

Lily had already been waiting for me in the Entrance Hall at the base of the Grand Staircase. I hadn't apologised for being late, but I don't think she expected me to. Our only conversation had consisted of which route we should take. I'd told her it didn't matter, and she'd stared at me like I had a flobberworm for a brain, which was insulting, so I quickly led the way down the fourth floor corridor.

Then again, maybe I _did_ have a flobberworm for a brain.

We'd just gone down one corridor when I heard boys' voices chattering and laughing as if they didn't care if they were caught.

Although I'd recognise one of those voices anywhere, the infuriated look on Evans' face confirmed for me that the voices did indeed belong to the Marauder's.

"POTTER!" she shrieked, slamming open the classroom door the voices were coming from.

"Evans!" I heard James cry in delight. It took all of my willpower to follow the redhead into the classroom.

James turned away from Lily to me and frowned, "what are _you_ two doing together?"

Lily answered as I swallowed down the hurt from his tone.

"Prefect duties," she said, looking pointedly at Lupin, who had the decency to laugh awkwardly and pull at his tie.

"Pads, you were supposed to be keeping an eye on the _map_," he said in a rushed whisper, but I'd learnt early on in first second year that these boys couldn't whisper for the life of them. Pettigrew quickly lunged across the table and grabbed an old tea-ringed piece of parchment.

I wanted to ask what he meant by 'the map', but didn't have a chance.

"Dearborn, I'm surprised you deign to patrol with muggle-borns," Black challenged me, earning a snort from James. Evans twitched awkwardly, shooting me a furtive glance.

I felt anger bubbling up inside of me, but held it down.

I addressed James, "you _know_ I've never once had a problem with muggle-borns, James."

"And yet you're like the bloody Princess of Slytherin or something," Black muttered, though James and I ignored him.

"Please Ana, you may never have had a _problem_ with them, per se, but you're hardly advocating their rights or value," James retorted. He pushed his glasses up his nose and watched me carefully.

"What in Merlin's name would I gain from _that_?!" I asked, completely exasperated.

"Evans here is the smartest witch in our year," he shot the girl in question a wink, which withered under her steely glare.

"Anyway," James hurriedly continued, "the point _is_, that people like you completely overlook such brilliance out of prejudice and foolishness! Please, I know you'll probably do better than any of us, but don't kid yourself into thinking that that's because you've earned it, or are any more deserving of it than others, Ana. It disgusts me. Godric, you disgust me, you and your ideals and ambitions and unchanging views. What's happening in the world – disappearances, murders, reform, and blood-supremacy – is because of people like _you_!"

I stood there completely in shock. I stared into James' eyes, desperate to see a glint of apology or guilt. Merlin, he seemed to be entirely serious.

I knew everyone was avidly staring between me and James, but I didn't dare meet anyone else's eye.

I took a step back, then another one. I felt the door handle press into my back and fiddled with it, before grasping the door open and fleeing the room.

* * *

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	4. Please Help

**AN: Hope you enjoy reading this fic as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Please review to let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means a lot!  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter **

* * *

I woke up the next morning feeling abysmal.

After fleeing from _him_ last night I'd sat alone in one of the spare classrooms in the dungeons so no one would question why I was back from patrolling so early – especially looking a teary-eyed mess. When I'd finally gone back to the common room, I was relieved to find it mostly empty. I waved to the few sixth and seventh year boys still lounging about but went directly down to my dormitory.

The girls were discussing Persephone's plans for her seventeenth birthday, which wasn't until the start of November. My entrance had caused them to awkwardly dither in their conversation, and so I quickly retreated to the bathroom. I decided to take my time getting ready for bed in the hopes that when I returned to the dormitory the girls would already be in bed.

Fortunately they were.

Unfortunately, I didn't sleep a wink.

I couldn't stop repeating his words in my head.

_You disgust me. You disgust me. You disgust me._

Even though we hadn't been friends for years now, I realised that I still saw him as my best friend... the cute little boy who once cried when he accidentally blew up a slug; the awkward child who had accidentally set my Hogwarts letter on fire in excitement.

Then I realised that I was no longer the little girl who had eagerly tried to scrape the slug back together, waving a twig around trying to fix it to stop the little boy's tears. I wasn't the playful girl who had dumped a pitcher of pumpkin juice on his head for burning my Hogwarts letter.

He wasn't the sweet, young boy I thought he was; I wasn't the cold, prejudiced young woman he thought I was.

But who was I?

I was Anastasia Dearborn. Just a Slytherin student with average grades and a well-connected family.

I mulled over what James had said again, and I found myself reminded of what Rosier had said. Rosier had joked about my skill in potions, or lack of, but had stated that it didn't matter. He was right. Nobody on the Wizengamot would care if I could brew the Draught of Living Death, or transfigure my arm into a cabbage.

All I needed to understand was politics.

And until that very moment I had considered myself capable of that. I had honestly believed that I understood politics and public relations, yet I hadn't let myself see my best friend slip away from me. I also hadn't noticed that the girls I shared a dormitory with tended to spend a lot of time without me.

And so I decided to start my second week of sixth year with a fresh attitude. I was done with Potter. He'd clearly given up on me a long time ago, which was embarrassing to admit, and I needed to stop letting him bring me down.

Although I wasn't rushing to face the new day, I was ready for breakfast before even Helene had finished in the bathroom, and so I went up to the Great Hall on my own. Although I knew I needed to make the effort to start building stronger bridges with my dorm mates, I just couldn't face waiting in the dormitory for them.

After composing my nerves outside the heavy doors, I sneaked what I hoped was a surreptitious glance at the Gryffindor table only to find it empty with the exception of a few seventh years. With a sigh of relief I turned my eye more confidently to the Slytherin table. I spied Eugenia Greengrass sat on her own leafing through a sheaf of papers, and sat down opposite her, reaching for the pot of tea.

"Good morning," I greeted with what I hoped was a relaxed smile.

The Head Girl glanced up and smiled at me indulgently, "Ana, good morning to you too! Alas, mine would be better if Longbottom hadn't left me to work out the new Prefect rota now that Houses have finalised their Quidditch schedules." She threw a dark look over my shoulder to the Gryffindor table; I didn't turn to follow her stare.

"Is there anything I could do to help?" I asked, thinking that it could never hurt to be seen helping the Head Girl in her role.

"Actually, there is," Eugenia smiled gratefully, rifling through the rolls of parchment. "Could you find out if any of the Ravenclaw Prefects are on their Quidditch team this year, Longbottom neglected to include those details!"

She passed me a list and I scanned it curiously, stirring a sugar cube into my tea.

"Hmm, I know that neither Emmeline Vance nor Edgar Bones in my year are. Rhona Pankhurst of your year is though. Remember, she missed lessons for weeks after that bludger accident last year?"

Eugenia trilled with laughter, "Oh yes, how could I forget that, she had to wear a wig over her bandaged skull for _weeks_! Merlin, I'm surprised she still plays though…"

"As for the others, I'll try and catch up with them today and let you know."

"Thanks Ana. I'll be sure to let Slughorn know what a big help you are as well," she winked, before returning to her lists and charts.

I smiled at her before taking a sip of tea.

* * *

Potions was uncomfortable.

I steadfastly ignored the Marauders, which was easy because they seemed to be ignoring my existence too.

Evans, however, was most definitely _not_ ignoring my existence. She kept shooting me furtive glances, wearing a small frown. Perhaps she was waiting for me to have a public breakdown and throw my potion all over Potter's messy hair… actually, I considered, she was probably _hoping_ for that outcome.

Since Snape spent our lessons watching Evans for the most part, I knew he'd noticed the attention I was receiving from her.

"Why is Lily staring at you?" Snape enquired. Merlin, where was his Slytherin subtlety?

"Maybe she's wondering how I get my hair to look so shiny," I quipped, dramatically flicking my hair over my shoulder with a smirk.

Snape scowled darkly and muttered something that sounded like 'waste of blood'. I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to taking notes on the effects of adding fairy wings to whatever potion this was sat in my cauldron.

"Your potion isn't supposed to fizz with the addition of fairy wings."

"Do you think I don't know that?" I snapped at the greasy haired boy beside me, drawing the attention of Rosier and Avery in front of us.

Rosier raised an eyebrow at me inquisitively. Merlin, I'd almost forgotton about our little chat. I forced a quick smile at him, shrugged apologetically to Avery and turned back to Snape.

"What _are_ fairy wings supposed to have the effect of then?" I asked, gritting my teeth and swallowing my pride.

Snape scowled at me, again. That boy sure had a lot of pent up anger.

"Why does Lily keep staring at you?" he countered, and I couldn't help but laugh quite heartily. Unfortunately this drew the attention of the whole class, apart from Slughorn who steadfastly pretended not to notice my interruption.

Snape himself looked entirely bewildered by my response. There was something else in his eyes though too. Holy hippogriffs, I'm pretty sure that was concern in his eyes!

Wait, no – it wasn't concern for me, I realised. Of course, he was concerned for _Evans_. Sweet Circe, what is it about that girl?

"She's actually nice," Snape interrupted. Merlin, had I said that last bit out loud?

"You know," he continued, "she's patient, and thoughtful. Always considerate of other people, but passionate about what she believes in. She'll always defend a friend."

"Apart from you," I so considerately reminded him.

"You heard her last week… I'm no longer her friend."

I had nothing to say to that, so instead I watched the poor boy turn back to his potions book and scribble something in the margin.

Slughorn chose this moment to become interested in the class again. He made his way straight to our desk, clapping Snape on the back amicably.

"Excellent insight there, Severus! Perhaps for your coursework you could further investigate the ways to neutralise asphodel's less stable effects?"

"Yes, perhaps sir. It's definitely something to think about."

Unfortunately Slughorn then looked at _my _work. I awkwardly played with the feather of my quill, pretending to straighten it out, pointedly not making eye contact.

"Oh, Miss Dearborn," he started, stretching out my name, "not to despair dear. Not everyone can have the natural fortitude for potions."

I graced him with a fleeting smile, ignoring a couple of snickers from my classmates.

"Of course not, professor! Why, if they did then we wouldn't hold potions Masters such as yourself in such high esteem now, would we?" I simpered.

"Oh ho, dear!" he beamed, "you're quite right I suppose! I suppose my thanks are in order then, for keeping me in a job!"

"It's my pleasure, professor."

Slughorn then patted me on the head. He _patted_ me on the head. Gritting my teeth, I tried to keep my expression respectful.

"Now then, would you two," the pot-bellied professor nodded at Snape and myself, "do me the honour of joining me on Friday night? Having a bit of a 'welcome back' dinner, nothing fancy you know, but I thought it might be nice for you all to get back together, get to know a couple of the younger students I've spied out and everything…" he trailed off conspiringly before lowering his voice to a dramatic stage whisper.

"I can assure you both now that there are big plans in the works for Halloween!" He took a step back, beaming expectantly at us both.

"Professor, I would love to! It's just…" I lowered my voice and glanced around the room, before leaning into Slughorn as if divulging a secret. "We're scheduled in for prefect duties on Friday evening." I shrugged helplessly, watching Slughorn's smile drop from his face with a quick glance between Snape and I.

"Ahem, well naturally dear, naturally… but you know, I actually have both Mr Longbottom and Miss Greengrass in potions this afternoon. I think you'll both find yourselves able to attend on Friday."

He winked at me, before turning away to select his other prize students.

Feeling somewhat satisfied with my work, I turned to my textbook, deciding to actually try and work out the properties of fairy wings before the end of the lesson.

"You didn't have to get me out of prefect duties too," I heard Snape mutter.

I flicked through a couple of pages absently, "No? So you'd rather be out on patrol than at a dinner where the _illustrious_ Miss Evans will most definitely be isolated from her Gryffindor pals?"

I met Snape's eye, and offered him a small smile. He rolled his eyes and grabbed my textbook roughly, turning to page 117 and setting it before me. He quickly turned back to his own notes again.

I dipped my quill into my inkpot and started summarising the entry in the textbook, focusing on the sound of my quill scratching on my parchment.

Once I had finished, I chanced a look around the room and briefly met Lily Evans' eye. She flashed me a small, awkward smile and I sighed.

"She witnessed… an altercation."

"Excuse me?" Snape replied, confusion seeping into his tone.

"Evans," I snapped. He rolled his eyes in exasperation and I reluctantly elaborated.

"Last night we had rounds together. We bumped into the Morons… Ja- _Potter_ – said something to me. Merlin… it's rather embarrassing you know, that _she_ witnessed it. As if it wasn't bad enough. But I don't really know why she's staring at me."

Snape had watched me carefully as I spoke, before turning his gaze to the girl in question.

"Knowing Lily… she's probably slightly embarrassed herself that she witnessed something personal. Probably feels really bad about it too," he broke out into a smile. "And if Potter said something truly nasty, she'll be furious at him! Fantastic, yeah, she won't talk to him for _weeks_ if she witnessed him tear into you!"

His joy was palpable, so I coughed, hoping to remind him that I was the girl that had been torn into, as he so graciously described it.

His eyes flicked back to me, and he blushed slightly. "Right, sorry Dearborn…"

"It's fine, let's just go back to our work."

* * *

I had beaten my dorm mates to the Great Hall for lunch. I tried to remember what lessons they all had, but realised I'd never paid all that much attention to their schedules. Making a mental note to rectify that later, I helped myself to a steaming bowl of vegetable soup and watched the Great Hall fill up around me.

Before long, I was joined by my thoroughly disgruntled and slightly charred dorm mates. I raised my brow in question.

"Professor Sprout is _crazy_!" Mina spat, sitting down opposite me before attacking a plate of sandwiches. Well at least now I knew they had Herbology on Mondays.

I reached across the table and flicked her ponytail, "you have dirt, right here, you know."

This possibly wasn't the wisest thing to point out, as she started sputtering incoherently, fumbling her wand with her cold hands.

Persephone had slipped into the seat beside her, and far more composed, flicked a quick _scourgify_ to clean her friend's hair.

"Thanks Sephi," Mina sighed.

I turned to Helene, who was sat beside me.

"What exactly did Professor Sprout have you doing?" I enquired, taking a dainty sip of my soup.

"Repotting venomous tentacula shoots. Sounds simple enough, right? Ugh, she failed to mention that the _adults_ would sense their presence and complete freak out. I swear that was almost as troublesome as Professor Kettleburn's classes!"

"Surely not that bad?" I laughed, glancing towards the staff table where Professor Kettleburn was showing off his amputated ring finger to a somewhat unsettled Professor Lumin. All accounts seemed to concur that he'd lost it to a niffler of all things after forgetting to take off his ring when dealing with one.

Persephone grimaced, "Unfortunately, it might have been that bad."

After lunch we all headed to our Charms class, chatting along the way.

"Hey, Ana, what did Rosier want last night?" Mina asked suggestively, piquing the interest of Persephone and Helene.

My lips twitched, but it was mostly from holding back a frown.

"He just wanted a chat, nothing terribly interesting."

Persephone scoffed. "Then why did he need to talk to you _alone_?"

I shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine, I'm sure."

"I think he likes you," Helene offered. I opened my mouth to respond, but saw Persephone's face darken and Mina throw Helene a meaningful, yet fleeting, glare.

I affected a secretive tone, "Oh _girls_, I can assure you it's not _me_ that he likes."

I knew my face wouldn't betray the slight lie. Granted I didn't know for sure that he did like me, but it was somewhat far-fetched of me to suggest he definitely didn't, and that in fact I knew that he liked one of them.

However, I did catch the suspicion on Persephone's face. I did catch the way Mina squeezed her arm slightly in comfort.

Fortunately before any of them could harass me as to my meaning, we stepped round the corner to find the rest of our charms class already waiting outside the door, including Rosier.

Professor Flitwick called us in, and I settled into my seat at a table with the other three girls, purposefully not looking in Rosier's direction.

Professor Flitwick had us practicing our non-verbal wandwork, as he insisted this would be an integral foundation to set for all NEWT work. Embarrassingly enough we were supposed to be practicing levitating feathers, a first year task, and yet halfway through the class, the only floating feathers had been preceded by whispered incantations.

In the heavy silence, and my lack of success nonverbally casting _Wingardium Leviosa_ my thoughts turned to Rosier's veiled warning.

I suppose it was a semi-fortunate coincidence that his warning was followed by Potter's outburst. That combination had certainly helped me decide to more explicitly demonstrate my loyalties. The only problem was, I was already lying to the girls I needed to trust me. Frustrated by this predicament, I cursed Rosier in my head.

I needed a plan.

I needed something that would prove to everyone in Slytherin that I was to be trusted. They needed to think of me only as a friend; not as a target, or a risk; and definitely not as someone they could enlist to the _cause_.

I needed something that would balance everything out again.

I needed a miracle.

* * *

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	5. Dinner Conversation

**AN: Hope you enjoy reading this fic as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Please review to let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means a lot!  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter **

* * *

On Friday morning I walked up to breakfast with all three of my dorm mates, and we were fully engaged in a debate about the use of potions versus charms for fixing one's hairstyle.

"The effects of haircare potions last far longer than their charm counterparts!" Mina exclaimed.

"But you don't need to _buy _a charm, or keep it in constant supply. How frustrating would it be to have to constantly be restocking on Sleekeazy's?" Helene responded, nodding her head firmly.

Persephone scoffed, "Just ask Isodora Stepham. Remember how frizzy her hair was in our first few years here?"

We'd reached the Great Hall, and I looked over to the Hufflepuff table and speculated upon the girl in question's hair.

"See!" Mina gestured wildly. "There is our definitive proof that potions are _far_ more effective than charms for long-term use!"

"But you admit that if it was just for an evening a charm would be easier?" I asked, amused.

Mina shook her head confidently, "Of course not. If it was just for one evening all the problems that you have suggested wouldn't even be a factor."

"Hmmm, I do see your point. However, there's something awfully crass about publicising your haircare, don't you think? I think I'd rather stick to the anonymity and subtlety of a well-placed charm," I said as I sat down at the Slytherin table.

"Well obviously I wouldn't go into a shop and buy the product, Ana!" Mina hissed, sitting next to me, as Helene and Persephone walked round to opposite bench. "I'd order it by owl, that way no one would see me."

I laughed at that, "Fair enough, then I suppose all it comes down to is personal preference."

"And one's personal proficiency at said Charms," Persephone muttered as she sat down, reaching for the pitcher of pumpkin juice.

Helene sat beside her and patted her weakly on the shoulder, "Don't worry about what Flitwick said yesterday, Sephi. There's plenty of time for you to work on your Charm work."

Persephone offered her a weak smile of thanks, when a thought struck me.

"Evan!" I called down to the boy who was just taking a seat further down the table with the other boys in our year. He looked up at me, frowning in confusion as I waved him towards me.

"Ana," Persephone leaned forward and whispered at me, "What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

I smirked at her, tapping my nose, before looking up at Evan who was now hovering by Persephone's shoulder. I nodded to the empty space beside her, and he hesitated slightly before slipping onto the bench.

"Good morning girls," he greeted us, in a slightly wary tone. Persephone smiled a little too awkwardly at him, as Mina and Helene muttered their greetings.

I grabbed the pot of tea and poured myself a cup, slowly stirring in milk and sugar, before looking up at Evan who was watching me carefully.

"Cup of tea?" I offered, to which he shook his head.

"No thanks, Ana," he responded, pouring himself a goblet of pumpkin juice. He took a small sip, and I smiled brightly at him before reaching for some bacon.

My dorm mates were all watching me and Evan carefully, rather confused as to what I was doing. Persephone in particular was watching me with a dark glint in her eyes.

"So, what were you girls talking about?" Evan finally offered as a stab at finding out what I wanted with him.

"Charms," Helene answered helpfully.

"Merlin, Flitwick's putting us through the ringer this year, isn't he?" Evan groaned.

"He most certainly is," Persephone murmured in a sour tone.

"I'm surprised you think so, Evan. I've noticed you still seem to be keeping up with the Ravenclaws in lessons, and well… I may have caught a glimpse of your homework when Flitwick handed it back yesterday. Well done on getting an E! You've clearly got a far better grasp of it than any of us do," I simpered.

Persephone stared at Evan in shock. "You got an E?!"

Evan shrugged somewhat awkwardly. "Um yeah, why?"

"I only got a P," Persephone grumbled miserably.

Mina poked me in the thigh and shot me a shrewd look when I made eye contact with her. I smirked slightly in response as I saw she was beginning to understand where I was going with this.

"I'm sorry, Sephi," Mina comforted. "You know I'll try to help you out… but I only just scraped an Acceptable. I'm not sure I understand the theory well enough to try and explain it you, and be of any significant help…"

"Me neither. Helene and I only just got As too" I sighed, affecting an air of genuine remorse, before sipping my tea, keeping a watchful eye on Evan.

He scratched the back of his head, frowning slightly. "I didn't realise your Charms grade bothered you that much, Persephone."

Persephone chanced a glance at him, a pretty blush spreading on her cheeks. "It bothers my parents," she confided softly.

"Hey, why don't _I _try and help you out then? My father used to constantly hassle me about my Defence marks, it was bloody miserable. The least I can do is help out a fellow Slytherin," he offered with a bright smile.

Persephone's face lit up, "Oh, would you really, Evan? How can I thank you?"

"Well, let's see if I'm any help to you first, then we can work out how you can repay me," he suggested, before tucking in to the plate of sausages.

At this point, the Great Hall erupted with the fluttering and hooting of owls delivering the morning post. A barn owl landed in front of me, with a copy of the Daily Prophet attached to its leg. I dropped a knut into the small leather pouch and the owl allowed me to claim the newspaper. The owl pecked at a slice of toast before taking off.

I listened to my friends' conversation with half an ear as Avery joined us and flattened out my copy of the paper. The headline immediately piqued my interest.

_**Crouch Rises to Judge, Jury, and Executioner**_

_Already the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch has just been honoured with the appointment to the recently vacated position of Judge on the Council of Magical Law. His recent work has seen him travelling across Germany and East Europe in aid of reforming their own legal system, where his council has seen a total overhaul of justice in countries still very much affected by Gellert Grindelwald's legacy. Although sometimes it seems international affairs are so far removed from our own forward-thinking Ministry of Magic, it seems that multiple members of the Wizengamot have taken note of Crouch's political mind and justice-driven policies._

_Some may question the logic behind such an appointment, for surely as Head of the DMLE he already operates in a large jurisdiction. One anonymous wizard stated that he believed it to be 'unwise for one man to hold such power in our justice system'. However, most reports indicate an overwhelming support for this appointment. An unnamed ministry official stated that 'Crouch is a strong, reasonable sort. He allows nothing to hinder him on his quest for justice, and his approach to working in such fierce coordination with the Auror department has reaped hugely beneficial results'. _

The article went on to describe the current political climate and that perhaps with such an appointment there will finally be a shift in favour of the Ministry.

I reread the article twice through, intensely curious. It seemed strange to me that the Ministry was willing to give one man so much power, but even stranger was that one man was even able to _amass_ such power – entirely legally. It was admirable.

"Ana!"

I looked up at Persephone, startled.

"Come on, we have to go to Transfiguration. Merlin knows McGonagall would string us up if we were late."

* * *

I twisted my braid into a bun at the nape of my neck and admired my reflection in the mirror. I wore a simple mauve dress that was figure-hugging but had a high neckline and fell below the knee, and the dress was mostly covered by my heavy silk robes that were in a deep, rich purple. Satisfied I was appropriately attired for a dinner; I cast a cushioning charm on my cream heels and slipped them on.

Persephone was lounging on her bed watching me get ready, and I turned to her and did a small curtsey, which earned me a genuine smile. She'd been much warmer towards me after my little intervention at breakfast.

"Off you go then, Ana, a Lady is never late!" She announced in a perfect imitation of my mother. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Yes, I should be off. Have a nice evening!"

I climbed the stairs to the Slytherin common room and located Eugenia Greengrass in robes of midnight black adorned with silver stars perched gracefully on one of the hard leather chairs facing the lake.

"Eugenia, beautiful robes," I greeted her with a smile. We were the only two girls in Slytherin invited tonight, and so we'd agreed to meet before.

"Thanks, as are yours," she rose from the chair and headed to the exit. "Come along, the boys have already left."

We made our way through the dungeons to the room often claimed by Slughorn for his dinners. People were yet to take their seats at the dining table; they were all mingling with their housemates at the edges of the room, as Slughorn greeted everyone individually at the door.

"Glad to see you both, young ladies," Slughorn clapped us on the backs, beaming. "Do help yourself to a butterbeer, we'll be taking our seats shortly."

Eugenia and I made our way over to the 'Slytherin Corner', where we were greeted by Gaius Parkinson and Caligan Yaxley of seventh year, Snape, Regulus and Barty. We spoke amongst each other about our weeks until Slughorn called us to the table.

Slughorn always insisted on a seating plan at these dinners, and so it was with slight trepidation I approached the table. A quick glance around the room had told me that none of the Marauders were here, despite the fact that I was certain both Potter and Black had been invited. Lily Evans was here though, and I'd successfully avoided her all week. I didn't want my hardwork to be for nought if we were sat next to each other.

I was in luck. Barty had been given the position of honour on Slughorn's right, and I'd have bet my entire family fortune that that was a direct result of his father's appointment to Judge that very morning. Interestingly, Barty looked less than pleased to be sat next to the Potions Master. I pondered on that, storing the observation away for another time.

Regulus and I found ourselves seated next to each other midway round the circular table from Slughorn. A tiny second year Gryffindor was sat on my other side, and I glanced down at her in bemusement as the starter was served.

I reached for my bottle of butterbeer and pretended to gag when I saw the label. "I can't believe the Ballycastle Bats are _still_ sponsoring butterbeer," I moaned to Regulus.

He chuckled at me and shook his head. "It's a travesty I know, but unfortunately they did win the domestic _and _the European Championship last year, Ana."

"Well, the Harpies have the league in the bag this year," I said snootily.

Again Regulus laughed. "No way, Ana! The Wasps are guaranteed to _destroy_ you! Bagman is onform, there's no denying it."

I snorted disparagingly. "Yes, _Bagman_ is on form. But what about the rest of the team? I'm sorry Reg, but the Harpies are the smoothest functioning team I've seen in a long time. They're such a coherent unit-"

"You're a fan of the Holyhead Harpies?" the second year girl interrupted me, causing both Regulus and myself to stare at her.

She blinked stupidly for a second, "Oh sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, it's just, I am too. I think they're great, I'm going to play for them one day you know."

The young girl spoke so confidently that I couldn't help but stare some more. Regulus smirked at her.

"Oh really," he drawled, "and what name shall dear Ana here be cheering for?"

"Gwenog Jones," the girl said, sticking her arm out across my plate in order for Regulus to shake it.

"Gryffindors!" I cursed under my breath in irritation; clearly the lot of them had no manners.

"Regulus Black."

"You're a beater for Slytherin." The girl said it as a statement and I found her forthright manner infuriating.

"Yes, I am."

"I just made it onto the Gryffindor team – I'm a beater too! Oh I just can't wait for the first game, we've got Hufflepuff first. James assures me that it should be an easy game, but I watched every game last year, and they always seemed to display the best teamwork, so I don't think it's a sure thing. What do you think?"

Regulus frowned at the girl. "I think that you need to learn a lesson in subtlety. Like I'm going to share my opinion on the teams with a Gryffindor, honestly."

To my surprise the girl laughed boisterously, "Well it was worth a shot! I look forward to coming up against you on the pitch, Regulus Black."

"Likewise, Gwenog Jones."

Much to my relief, the girl turned back to her food, before engaging in conversation with Alice Prewett who was on her other side.

I sat in petty silence through the main course, annoyed that Regulus had allowed the energetic Gryffindor to interrupt our conversation and then make me endure their conversation, both leaning across me.

"Ana," he coaxed, voice still thick with amusement. I just scowled and made a show of asking Alice Prewett to pass me the salt.

"I heard you exchanged words with my brother and Potter," Regulus murmured softly. The boy sure knew how to get my attention.

I frowned at him and lowered my voice to a whisper, "How did you find that out?"

He shrugged and stated simply whilst leaning closer to me, "This is Hogwarts."

"Snape told you."

Regulus had the grace to smile sheepishly at me. "Don't be mad, Ana. I practically forced him to. I noticed you seemed different this week… you were suddenly consumed in your dorm mates' lives, and Severus seemed friendly towards you. Which, don't take offence – is odd. He never used to like you, so I wanted to know why you two were suddenly so friendly. Merlin, you guys were even laughing together when you came back from Prefect rounds on Wednesday night."

"So, you what – just went up to him and asked if we were friends?"

Regulus blushed ever so slightly, and his voice was gruff. "Yeah, yeah. Well – it wasn't quite like that. But that's the gist of it. Anyway, when I deduced that you were sort of friends, I asked why. I pretty much guessed it was something to do with Potter."

I sighed and looked down at my plate, twirling my fork around.

"I'm glad you're going to stop wasting your time on him."

I stared into the dark haired boy's piercing grey eyes, not knowing how to respond. Eventually I broke our eye contact and cast my gaze around the table. Snape was staring intently – I followed his stare, and of course found Lily Evans. She was talking to Frank Longbottom, and just as I was about to turn back to Regulus, she met my gaze.

I snapped away from her, straight back to Regulus. He was still watching me.

"You could utilize that, you know?"

"Excuse me?"

Regulus leaned towards me, and I felt myself leaning to meet him. "I imagine it must irk Potter that Evans was there to witness his gross defamation of your character. Can't have painted a very pretty picture to her…"

He pulled away and returned his attention to his meal, and I was immediately aware of the distance between us. I slowly finished my meal, mulling over his words.

Slughorn clinked his spoon against his glass, effectively capturing the attention of all of his dinner guests.

"How nice it is to see such fine students all together! I hope you all enjoyed the dinner, but there is still some time before curfew, if any of you would like to help yourself to more butterbeer and chat a little while longer." He beamed around at all of us in turn, before standing up and bowing grandly. He flicked his wand and the table was cleared, another flick and music was playing from the gramophone.

I noticed that most of the younger students left pretty much immediately. The remaining students all made for the drinks table.

I decided to stay close to Snape. I knew Lily wouldn't approach me if I was in his presence, and although I had understood Regulus' meaning, I knew I couldn't implement anything tonight. She'd be immediately suspicious if she suddenly found me available and willing to talk to her.

"Dearborn…" Snape said suspiciously, as I followed him from the drinks table to an empty corner.

"Snape," I responded brightly. He narrowed his eyes at me, and his gaze flickered over my shoulder briefly, to where I knew Lily was standing.

"And now it makes sense," he said wryly.

I tutted at him. "We're sort of friends now, aren't we? It shouldn't be strange for me to be in your company," I reprimanded. He simply rolled his eyes.

"You told Regulus," I commented.

Snape sighed and shrugged at me, "He was rather adamant that I explain our… 'sort of friendship' to him."

"I see," I said, although I didn't see. I still really didn't see at all.

* * *

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	6. Lessons in Manipulation

**Sorry for the long wait! Back to regular writing and updates now. I hope there's still interest out there!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**

* * *

Over the weekend I took Regulus' advice on board and plotted how to get Lily to come to me without rousing her suspicion after a week of avoiding her. I kept returning to the same idea that was inspired by Snape. He had made me believe that if Lily saw another confrontation between me and James then she wouldn't be able to resist offering me comfort. It wasn't an idea I relished.

Tuesday night evening at dinner I couldn't help but notice Persephone seemed agitated.

I caught Mina's eye and pointedly glanced towards Persephone who was currently attempting to cut her pork with a spoon, sending furtive looks down the Slytherin table. Surprisingly a smug look emerged on Mina's face.

"Someone's got a daaaaate this evening," she cooed, nudging Persephone and smiling at me.

"Merlin, for the last time, it's not a date Mina! He's just helping me with the Charms work set in yesterday's lesson. We'll be in the common room for all to see!"

"Not us, I'm afraid," I sighed, glancing at my watch. Opposite me Mina groaned.

"Oh that's right, you two have an Astronomy practical this evening, don't you?" Helene enquired.

"Yes, we do. I'm looking forward to winter when it gets dark early enough that we can do our two hours during respectable times! As it is we have to be there at 8 tonight but can't start observations until about 10."

Mina just sighed, "Come on then Ana, we still have that preparatory reading to do. Dorm or library?"

"How about we try one of the classrooms at the base of the astronomy tower? Less distractions there," I suggested.

We shortly finished our dinner, and with an hour until our Astronomy lesson began, made our way across the castle to the Astronomy Tower.

* * *

"It was nice of you to give Sephi and Evan a small nudge, Ana," Mina commented as we set up our telescopes under Professor Lumin's direction.

I shrugged in response. It hadn't actually been that nice of me, but it did nicely distract my dorm mates and Evan from me. I pressed my eye to the lens of my telescope in order to locate the North Star from which we would be beginning our star charts this evening.

"Well," I began, sitting back from my telescope after a bit of twiddling, "They clearly like each other."

"Perhaps not so clearly as you might think, Ana," Mina retorted. I raised a brow in response.

"It doesn't take a genius to notice that Rosier perhaps had more than a passing interest in you," Mina challenged.

I was saved having to reply by the arrival of the Hufflepuff Florence Hyperley, who asked if she could set up her telescope next to Mina. Just as I noticed Professor Lumin check her watch, the entrance to the Tower swung open and four boys stepped through, all chatting amicably. Oh Merlin.

Benjy Fenwick of Ravenclaw offered me a cheery wave, less enthusiastically followed by Tonius Hopkirk of Hufflepuff. However I was thoroughly ignored by the final additions to this lesson, Potter and Black. Well, that was fine with me.

Professor Lumen launched straight into her introduction to NEWT Astronomy, as for some reason Astronomy lessons never commenced within the first fortnight of the year. Her melodious voice carried through the brisk night as she instructed us on interpreting distance, our objective for this term.

For the first half hour or so we mostly worked in silence, with the occasional raised hand to summon the elegant professor to ask a question. Eventually though, when the tedium of trying to change one's perspective to further plot position and depth overtook any pleasure in stargazing, small whispers lingered.

I couldn't help but notice a lot of shared whispers between Black and Florence, with the occasional giggle erupting from her lips to be quickly smothered by a gloved hand. I clenched my jaw in irritation.

"Here, this is my star," I heard Black say to the giggling girl. I glanced across to see him hovering over her shoulder, eye pressed to her telescope, moving it ever so slightly and refocusing it before returning it to Florence.

"Oooh," she gasped, "It's so bright!"

"Well, I guess it was a good choice for me then," Black quipped with a wink.

To my amusement I caught Potter roll his eyes in irritation and pretend to gag at Hopkirk, who stifled a snicker in response.

"If you were so bright, Black, you'd know that it was only so bright because of its proximity to Earth," Mina drawled. I surge of appreciation for the girl rushed through me.

"Right you are, Miss Flint," Professor Lumen called out, making us all jump a little.

"Despite _why_ you might all be ogling the star," she said with a pointed look at Black, "It is an excellent example and point of reference for distance plotting."

After that the lesson continued with little interruption. I managed to plot the relative distance of some stars, thankful that I'd completed reading the theory. Fenwick, having studied Arithmancy was able to give me a couple of pointers which although applied to the stars I'd already plotted, I couldn't blindly apply them like he could.

"Okay class, if I could have your attention," Professor Lumen requested. "An excellent start this evening. Tomorrow morning we shall continue by discussing the uses of knowing relative distance and locations of the stars. For now though, I bid you good night."

She banished all of our telescopes and watched us all leave in an awkward group.

Hopkirk and Fenwick went ahead discussing something about the Gobstones club, whilst Black and Florence hung back together, whispering and nudging each other. That left myself, Mina and Potter lumped together. Following Mina's lead I chose not to acknowledge Potter as we descended the tower. We reached the fifth floor corridor, where Hopkirk was awkwardly waiting for Florence, presumably to walk back to their common room together, when Black waved him off. For a split second I caught Potter's eye, and I was convinced he was going to say something.

"Here, Hopkirk, we can go via the Entance Hall with you," I quickly offered to the freckly boy.

"Ha, lucky you," Black scoffed, not quite earning a smile from Florence, who awkwardly glanced between us all.

"Actually, Ana, I wanted your opinion on the potions assignment," the blonde said, shrugging out from Black's arm. I controlled myself from expressing my smugness, and instead motioned to the end of the corridor where the main staircase was to take us down to the lower levels of the castle.

Myself, Mina, Florence and Hopkirk walked off, offering a nod to Fenwick, who looked slightly amused by the whole scenario.

"So, Florence, what did you want to know?" I asked loudly, feeling smug.

Not remotely interested in her response, I instead focused and heard Black grunt, "Put a sock in it Prongs."

* * *

The next morning Mina and I were quite late to breakfast. We arrived up at the Great Hall to find Helene and Persephone chatting quite happily to Rosier and Avery. With a sense of satisfaction I sat next to Helene, who was laughing prettily at Avery's impression of Mulciber at last night's Quidditch practice. Mulciber himself was sat glowering at Pyron Parkinson, a seventh year who played beater on the team with Mulciber, sporting a sling.

"And then," Avery exclaimed, "the blighter refused to do the back-up drill – you know, the one where Mulciber calls it, dummies, and Parkinson would belt it – because he didn't want people to think he'd missed. Said he'd look stupid!"

Rosier guffawed into a spoonful of porridge, spraying it into the spout of the pot of tea I was reaching for. Gross. Everyone laughed harder, and rolling my eyes in distaste I stood up from the bench and moved further down to sit with Regulus and Barty, to their untainted pot of tea.

They both looked up with small smiles.

"Good morning, boys," I returned their smile.

"Avery retelling Mulciber's imbecilic dicky fit again?" Regulus asked.

"Yes," I said sourly, "I do hope this doesn't mean you're not all playing as a team and respecting Rowle's captaincy?"

Barty stared at me incredulously. Regulus snickered.

"You take Quidditch more seriously than half the players in this school, Ana," Regulus drawled.

I shrugged, not needing a defence. Regulus knew I was besotted with the sport. I fixed myself a cup of tea, glancing at Barty's paper. Suddenly I remembered Barty's less than pleased disposition at Slughorn's dinner.

"So," I prompted, "you must be proud of your father, Barty."

He pursed his lips – he'd need to work on controlling his expressions – and set his breakfast spoon down.

"Yes, of course. He's worked very hard for it."

His voice was sullen and his back stiff. Interesting. Not so happy with his father's appointment then.

I noticed Regulus also looked a bit _too_ casual, so he must have been forcing that too. I thought back over the last few days. As fifth years, they didn't have all that much to do with the sixth and seventh year students. Regulus did because he played Slytherin, and, well, he was a Black. And not a Gryffindor Black. Barty however, didn't play Quidditch, nor was he a Black… He'd never been actively involved with the older boys to the best of my recollection, but the last few days since the article… Yes, he'd definitely been somewhat ostracized by the sixth and seventh year boys. I'd have to see if I could change that.

"Ana!" Mina called down the table. "Come on, Professor Lumin's classroom is up on the fifth floor, we'd best get moving." I grabbed a croissant off of the tray in front of me, and waving a quick goodbye to the fifth year boys, flounced off.

Unfortunately Potter and Black had had the same idea as us, and we reached the doorway at the same time. I made to move past them but Potter shuffled in front of me deliberately.

"Can I help you, Potter?" I asked coldly. He seemed slightly surprised by my tone of voice.

"Doubtful," Black muttered. I scowled at him and made to move past again, but Potter threw his arm out across my path, holding an envelope. I eyed it curiously, raising a brow at the bespectacled boy.

He fiddled with his glasses, pushing them up his nose. "Mum sent you a note, but you were late to breakfast so Chorus left it with me." Chorus was the name of Dorea's tawny owl.

"Thank you," I forced myself to reply, taking the note and quickly sidestepping the boys before they could halt me again, not that they wanted to I'm sure.

Mina frowned at me, "Why would his mother send the letters together, surely she knows the two of you aren't exactly friendly anymore?"

"I don't know," I shrugged in response, leading the way up to the fifth floor. Though I did have a pretty good idea, Dorea would have sent James the letter to force him to talk to me. For the first time ever, I wasn't sure I was grateful for her interventions.

* * *

That afternoon I had Defence. Persephone and I were the only sixth year Slytherin girls taking it, and I was suddenly very glad that she had been far more friendly to me since setting up her study dates with Rosier. Unfortunately, our Defence lessons this year were just made up of Slytherins and Gryffindors. It was just typical that this was the only lesson – the only lesson that could quickly get aggressive and dangerous – without other Houses to act as a buffer between the rivals.

Our Professor this year was an old Romanian wizard, who walked with a slight wisp and apparently had a preference for blood red robes. Professor Rutherford, it was rumoured, had been a tactician in Grindelwald's cabinet. How that qualified him to teach us Defence, only Merlin could guess. I reckoned the rumours had to be largely fabricated.

I shared a desk with Persephone at the side of the classroom. Evans and McKinnon sat on the front row, with the Marauders behind them, kicking their chairs. The Slytherin boys sat on the far side of the classroom, near the door.

Evans was furiously whispering at Potter, brandishing her wand threateningly, when Professor Rutherford stomped in.

"5 points from Gryffindor," he barked. Evans jumped up in her seat, looking well and truly shocked. Black opened his mouth, to complain no doubt, and I saw Mulciber and Avery exchange smug grins.

"Never tell your enemy your intentions, Miss Evans. Very poor strategy. The only time one would ever do that would be to purposefully mislead an opponent, feed them false information."

The Professor tapped his wand against his thigh. Turning to the blackboard, he scrawled the words 'Manipulation as Defence', before slowly turning to appraise the class.

"Doesn't seem very honourable," remarked Potter. The old professor stared down at him.

"You have a lot to learn."

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw my male housemates sitting up straighter, looking eagerly at the professor. Smiling slightly, I dipped my quill into the inkwell, poised ready to take notes from what seemed to be an interesting lecture ahead.

"Some of you may be familiar with this history, though, considering your attention spans… I may be being a tad optimistic. Anyway, how many of you are familiar with the werewolf tensions on the continent during the late 18th century?"

Nobody raised their hand, though I noticed Lupin and Black twitch slightly. Evans bobbed her head at the Professor's scowl of disappointment.

"Shambles," he muttered, "Should have known not to return Dumbledore's favour like this…"

Drawing himself to stand up straighter, he flicked his wand towards the blackboard where a piece of chalk jumped up, eagerly waiting to serve.

"Throughout the latter half of the 1700s, werewolf populations throughout France and Germany were growing steadily. By the 1780s, attacks were no longer uncommon, and muggles were also being affected. This caused significant risk to the wizarding population. In the mostly wizarding French village, Ville de Canis, a witch was burned – Frances Riberot. It is reported that a muggle had offered her his affection, but she had publicly denied him. As a consequence, the spurned muggle burned down her family's barns. The next night, by what appears to be a consequence, the muggle was viciously attacked; by… you guessed it, a werewolf. The muggle-"

"Can I help you, Miss Evans?" Rutherford growled.

"I was just wondering the name of the muggle, Sir?" the redhead enquired.

Rutherford tutted impatiently, "I do not know it off the top of my head, silly girl. It is unimportant to the story."

Evans looked highly offended, and if it wasn't for McKinnon nudging her she looked as if she would have said more.

"As I was saying, the muggle community saw only the connection between the young Miss Riberot, and the cursed, injured, muggle-turned-madman. She was burnt alive, and in her overwhelming panic – her father and brothers were out hunting for the werewolf by the way for the protection of the village – her magic failed her, and she died."

I shared a morbid look with Persephone. Though as tragic a story as it was, I failed to see its relevance. I raised my hand.

"Yes, Miss Dearborn?" He asked with less of a sneer than when Evans had interrupted, emphasising my surname.

"Sir, that is certainly a tragic story, but I struggle to see its relevance to Defence strategy…"

"A good point, Miss Dearborn!" The professor clapped his hands together.

"So here we have a small isolated village, with a murdered witch, an accidentally killed muggle, tensions between wizard and werewolf, tensions between wizard and muggle. A worse scenario than a war camp out of firewhiskey!"

Huh, maybe he _had_ been in cohorts with Grindelwald.

"Miss Riberot had four elder brothers, each of whom was an accomplished duelist. When they returned to the village with their father after an unsuccessful werewolf hunt-"

The marauders all flinched.

"To find their daughter dead at the hands of muggles, they were nearly incapacitated with grief. They burnt the village to the ground."

Evans and Pettigrew gasped in shock. I carried on making notes.

"They rode to the next village, to a wizarding family there. The Duval's were incensed by the tragedy befalling the Riberot's – they had hoped to marry their son to the late Miss Riberot. However, they also shared a prized possession. They had, unlike the Riberot's, successfully caught a werewolf. The wolf, obviously untransformed, was their prisoner. That night, the brothers went out and goaded the wolf. Spun a fanciful tale of how another wolf had killed their sister, that the wizarding community had risen up against the wolves, legislation was being written up for their extermination, to legalise hunting. That night the brothers also consumed copious amounts of firewhiskey. Somehow the wolf escaped."

"During the next full moon, there were no attacks throughout the region. Nor were there any during the full moon after that. Then, that summer, the Duval boy – the one intended to marry Miss Riberot – happened upon a series of underground caves. Caves with chains, and charms, and wards… and scratch marks."

The whole class was on tenterhooks, soaking up the old Professor's tale.

"So, who can guess what had happened?"

I glanced around the room. Snape looked like he had a fairly good understanding, as did Black, but it was Lupin who raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr Lupin?"

Lupin spoke in a strangely detached voice.

"The Riberot brothers planted false information for the wolf and allowed him to escape. Out of fear for his pack, he would have transmitted the information, the warning. To prevent being hunted and to ease tensions, their self-preservation instinct would have prompted them to protect themselves by protecting the community. Thus, they created underground havens, cells, that only when not transformed could they exit."

"What excellent insight into werewolf behaviour, Mr Lupin," Rutherford commended. Interestingly, the Marauders all flinched, Evans stiffened, and I swear by Merlin I heard Snape growl from the opposite side of the room.

"Your OWL teacher must have done a commendable job teaching you all about dark creatures," Rutherford continued with a smile, seemingly not noticing the reaction of his students.

"Right, for your homework I would like 3 feet of parchment outlining another historic event in which deception allowed for victory, house points for anyone who researches an event in which deception and manipulation successfully averted any sort of conflict, such as this tale."

* * *

"Well, that was a poignant lesson, wouldn't you agree, Ana."

Snape stared meaningfully at me as we exited the classroom.

* * *

**Reviews are magic**


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